> "...there was no attempt to tie in Emma's thinking on women's rights,
> sexual liberation, labor, etc., with her anarchist politics. One walks
> away with the impression of a sort of generic do-gooder and free
> speechist who also happened to have some weird ideas about
> government." -- Eric Laursen
>
> "...where were the present-day anarchist activists - those, for
> example, who've played such an important role in the global justice
> movement, to show that Emma's politics are alive and well? There
> wasn't the slightest hint that the filmmakers realize that anarchism
> is a live-and-well political/philosophic tradition and not some
> relic." -- Eric Laursen
>
> "The principal authoritative voice in the film was Alice Wexler, who
> wrote a substantial two-volume bio of Emma. Wexler is a good
> biographer and historian, and I have a lot of respect for her
> research. But again, her books do Emma a disservice by removing her as
> much as possible from the anarchist context, instead interpreting her
> pretty much as a figure in a sort of generic immigrant-radical
> history. Anarchism, again, is viewed as an eccentricity of a
> prodigiously talented woman, not as a continuing tradition in which
> she was a vital link. The problem, of course, is that if you remove
> the anarchism from Emma, she does start to seem like a "mere"
> reformer, and the point of why anyone today should read her, except as
> a sort of generic "inspiring figure," is lost. Unfortunately, this is
> the impression the whole film gives." -- Eric Laursen
Very valid points, but as you (Chuck) said, the program was pretty good for a PBS (= "Prodigiously Bourgeois System") production.
As far as I can remember, whenever PBS (and NPR too, for that matter) handles any subject with a leftist or anti-status-quo relevance, it de-fangs it, so as not to be convicted, as the program pointed out that Emma was, as an "inciter to riot." (I should say, whenever they have handled such subjects since they outgrew their knee-pants stages, when they were small, not needing substantial financial support, and somewhat more feisty and combative.)
But maybe the program served to remind some people that such a person as Emma once existed, and inspire them to go to the web site or elsewhere for more information.
BTW, for a really disgusting performance, look up the review in yesterday's NY Times, which compared Goldman with ... wait for it ... Oprah!
Jon Johanning // jjohanning at igc.org __________________________________ Had I been present at the Creation, I would have given some useful hints for the better ordering of the universe. -- Attr. to Alfonso the Wise, King of Castile